Lion King: The Life of Kyle
by ArchAngel319
Summary: After joining his family on a sailing trip across the globe a man soon finds himself facing pain and heartache the likes of which he had never imagined. However, after unexpectedly stumbling upon a certain pride of lions we all know he might just find the help he needs to heal and be happy again


**A/N:** Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy the first chapter of what I hope to be a first of new exciting series. This is my first dabbles into the world of writing fanfiction so I warn you I'm still in the progress of learning. As time goes on, and new chapters are released I hope that my writing will quickly improve and soon be up to par with that of other authors on this site. I am always happy to listen to critique and reviews, but I ask like any other writer to keep the flaming to a minimum, and again remind you that this is a first time for me. Finally I wanted to give a shout out to Liam Holman for his help beta reading this chapter, and you guys should check out his own Lion King fic called, "The Guardian". Anyway, have fun reading and please don't be afraid to comment and follow.

Cheers!

 **DISCLAIMER:** **I do not own the Lion King or claim any character therein which remain the intellectual property of Disney. I only own my OC'S.**

* * *

Life and nature is just as harsh and unforgiving as it can be beautiful and rewarding. This is an inherit fact of our world that mankind has acknowledged and recorded since the dawning of our first civilizations. When you read about the ancient epics of Odysseus or the tales Sinbad this fact of nature was always prominent and never unembellished. When the storytellers of yester-year created these unforgettable tales they made sure that this fact was never forgotten by the listener, whether it be by the telling of the gruesome and sudden deaths of the men accompanying our heroes or the nightmarish conditions that they found themselves in and had to triumphed over.

This story will be no different. This will be a tale of a boy who will come very early on in his life to realize this inherit fact of our world. He will endure the hardships and nightmares that come with the loss of those most close to him. He will find himself adapting to the harsh conditions of the lands in which he will find himself in. He will struggle, he will fight, he will scream and kick and kill not only to live, but protect and care for those he finds most precious to him. This is a story of The Life of Kyle.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Beginning of an Adventure**

Today was the day. I would finally get the chance to travel outside my country for the first time and get to see what the rest of the world is like. To say that I was excited would be a complete and utter understatement. As I hastily jumped out of the family truck, I squinted my eyes looking through the bright sunlight overhanging the docks that we arrived at and searched through the crowd of sails that populated the harbour.

"Which one is ours, Dad?" I turned back to the truck to see my father hopping out of the driver's side and picking up some of our travel gear.

He chuckled at the excitement in my voice before smiling at me.

"Don't go chasing off just yet, Kyle. Make sure you grab something from the truck before we head to the boat."

I sighed, dropping my head dramatically, having some of the wind blown out of my sails at the thought of having to carry all our heavy gear down to the dock.

"Okay, Dad." I said in a somewhat whiny voice that only a 15 year old teenager could pull off.

Dad just shook his head good naturedly before turning and walking off leaving me to help with the rest of the unpacking.

My father, Walter, was kind of your average looking man. Not overly built, but definitely not as gangly as I've seen other guys being. He stood at around 5'8" with slightly tanned skin. I had always been a tad proud that I was taller than both my parents, standing myself at around 5'11". Being in his mid-fifties he had dark brown hair similar to mine, with grey hair beginning to creep up from the side of his temples. He wore round-rim glasses behind light blue eyes, which I always secretly wished I had inherited instead of the dark hazel eyes I had got from my mother. But as a friend of mind would always say, "C'est la vie".

Following Dad's instructions, I quickly turned my back to the docks and started jogging back towards the truck. When I got there I began pulling open the rear door and started dragging our stuff out of the back as my mother and sister finally decided to get out of the crisp cool air conditioning of the vehicle. Now my mother Pamela was by no means an unattractive looking person. She was a decent looking woman in her forties, standing slightly shorter than my father with light pale skin like mine and beautiful shoulder length dark auburn hair that complemented her hourglass figure. My sister, Sidney, was no different than my mother, being 11 years old and possessing the same dark shoulder length hair and figure as my mum, you could put them both side by side and think that my mother had her own personal mini-me.

As I finished lifting the last of our stuff out of the truck, my sister and mother called to me and started helping me carry our luggage down towards the docks. As I walked in front of the both of them as we carried our stuff down the wood planks of the dock, I couldn't help but start getting excited again in anticipation of seeing the sail boat we'd be traveling on. You see, for as long as I could remember, as a kid, my father would always be trying to convince our mother into buying a sailboat. He wanted us to travel together as a family across the globe and show us all the amazing things and beautiful landscapes he went to when he traveled by himself when he was younger. Being the young impressionable kid I was, and wanting to be just like my father, I was instantly enraptured by the idea of sailing around the world on a boat of my own someday. Being as my mother is sometimes, she was at first stubbornly against the idea of taking her young children on such a long trip, especially since we would have been traveling on such a potentially hazardous mode of transport such as a sailing boat, where myself or my sis could easily fall overboard if my parents weren't paying attention. However, my father being the persistent man he is was finally able to convince my mother into buying a boat for the family a few months back.

As we neared the end of the dock I looked over to our right and spotted my father who was already wearing his sailing attire and his usual Aussie style hat standing next to, in my opinion, one the coolest looking sailboats I had ever seen.

My father, taking notice of us as we approached the boat spread his arms out wide in a welcoming gesture as he called out to us.

"Welcome aboard the Tempest you scallywags, I hope you like what you see because this will be our new home for the next couple of months."

Both me and my sister cried out in excitement and joy in response to our fathers words, as our mother silently smiled at her husband's playfulness. As my father helped my mother prep the boat for launch I spent my time going over and exploring every inch of the Tempest. Spanning at just over 37 feet long, yellow hauled and sporting a single white sail our boat was known as a classic 1968 Alberg Sloop. Having been refurbished and updated with every bit of know marine tech my father could lay his hands on, our boat was everything I had imagined it to be.

By the time we finished prepping the Tempest for departure the sun had started to dip below the horizon, forming a vibrant orange backdrop of the harbours opening as its light reflected off the calm waters. My father quietly started the engine with a muffled rumble as I helped pushed our sloop off of the dock. We were all ready to go and start our departure for what we all hoped would be a memorable adventure.

If only I had known I would be getting just that, just not in the way I imagined it would be.

* * *

For the first two months into our travels we had nothing but smooth sailing. The weather mostly turned out to be warm and slightly overcast with only a slight 5-9 knot wind to help us move our way down along the eastern coast of Canada. As we made our way down along the eastern coasts of the Americas, making anchor only briefly to either explore or to resupply, my father showed me the ropes as he taught me how to sail the Tempest. Going over every aspect of sailing, my father first taught me the names and functions of every part of the Tempest before he started showing me how to operate and maintain every sail and pulley on the ship. After that he sat me down and started to show me how to operate some of the electronic equipment he stored in the Wheelhouse, teaching me all the different call-signs he used when operating the radio. At my insistence he even taught me a bit of Morse code, which was something I had always wanted to learn.

While I was doing this my mother and sister would often spend most of their time either reading the small e-library we brought along with us or even just relaxing in the sun on deck. By the time we had finished our crossing of Atlantic, making safe harbour in Cape Town South Africa, I think I could proudly say to myself that I could sail the Tempest as good if not better than my dad. Before we departed from Cape Town's safe harbour my parents made sure that we would be accompanying a convoy of other boats like ours before continuing our trip along the eastern coast of Africa.

At first, I had wondered why my parents did this, since we didn't do this when we were traveling along the Americas, so I decided I wanted to asked my parents as to why we couldn't just head out on our own instead of having to stick with a crowd of other sailboats. To answer my question, my father told me with a serious expression adorning his and my mother's faces that it wasn't safe to sail alone in these areas because of possible attacks and raids by pirates and other like minded people who made their living preying along these coasts. Satisfied after listening to their answer, I didn't ask any more questions about it, but still wondered if pirates here were as bad as my parents seem to make it out to be.

Staying only a few days in Cape Town, where I spent most of my time there exploring the city with my mother and sis, the convoy finally decided it was time to depart and head toward our next destination which was Mombasa. Making our way along the coasts of east Africa the convoy encountered no problems as we sailed towards our intended destination. While only a few days out from our next rest stop the leader of the convoy started to radio us letting us know that the coast guard was putting out warnings to all ships of a possible storm cell which was forming in the area. However, the captains were given reassurances that we'd reach safe harbour long before the storm cell reached us. A day later the leader of the convoy radioed the captains again letting them know that the storm cell was apparently forming faster than forecasts had predicted and that we'd be cutting it close to reach safe harbour in time before the weather hit. Only a day out from our safe harbour, just as the leader of the convoy had warned us, my father and I started to see a dark line of clouds starting to appear along the distant horizon.

As the hours past, and the convoy made its best speed to the reach our destination to drop anchor, the long line of dark ominous clouds followed and creeped ever closer to us, making my father come to the conclusion that no matter what we did we would inevitably get caught in the storm before arriving at safe harbour. When he finally accepted the fact that we weren't getting to safety of the coast in time he called us into the wheelhouse and told my mother, sister and myself to start battening down the Tempest and making sure that everything was tied down and secured properly. As we left the wheelhouse to carry out my father's instruction, he grabbed the radio handset and started conversing with the other captains of the convoy in hopes of figuring out a plan for making sure everyone got through the approaching storm safely.

Over the course of the next hour, with the sounds of distant thunder in the background sounding the inevitable approach of what was to come, I moved with a sense of urgency from bow to stern of the entire ship making sure every latch, rope and line was properly knotted and secured before I moved on to the next one. As I did this I kept a close eye on my younger sister as she help me secure the ship, knowing that she still had troubles when it came to tying some of the of the more complex sailing knots we used. When I finished securing the last of the mainsail I turned my head to see if my sister had finished securing the emergency dinghy attached to the starboard side of the Tempest. When I saw her I instantly noticed the frustration her body and hands were exuding while she tried over again several time to make the proper knot dad and I had showed her to use earlier. Deciding to help my poor sister out after she started and failed for the fifth time to successfully tie the same knot I jumped off the Boom of the Mainsail to land right behind her with a loud thud, causing her to jump with a start and turn towards me with a curse on her lips as my action startled her.

"Jeez Kyle! What the heck do you think you're doing? You could have landed on me or something!"

In response to her yelling at me I stayed silent, only giving her a deadpan stare and a raised eyebrow, as if to silently say to her "really?". Being her older brother I knew this action would only get her more frustrated and irritated at me so I quickly stopped teasing her and spoke.

"Having some trouble with tying the knot there sis, you know you only had to ask and I would have helped"

After hearing what I said she narrowed her eyes and looked at me in irritation.

"You don't have to baby me you know! Dad showed me already how to tie the stupid knot but the dingy keeps swinging because of the waves and keeps causing the knot to come undone."

I let a sigh escape through my nose after listening to her frustration. I knew after being around her for most of my life that arguing or criticizing her at this point in time would be useless and probably land me further in the dog house with her than I already was so I tried something else.

"Here, I know the dingy can be a bit tricky at times so why don't you hold it still for me while I finish off the rest of the knots." I said while giving her a tired smile

Responding to what I said with only a silent nod she turned her back to me again and began holding the dingy firmly against the yellow hull of the boat. Kneeling down on one knee and getting in front of the knot she was working on before I undid what she had done and started anew, tying the knot slowly as if I was showing someone step by step on how to tie the knot. I knew my sister was probably watching me while I worked, trying to hide from me the fact she was trying to memorize every hand movement I made while tying. After finishing with the last rope I got off my knees and turned back to her seeing that she was trying to act as if she wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.

"Finished?" she said, finally beginning to look at me, pretending as if she had just realized I was there.

I frowned slightly as I looked at her, her attitude starting to irk me somewhat. I wondered why my sis was acting so irritated towards me right now but for the life of me I couldn't think of what could be troubling her. Deciding quickly that I wanted to resolve this problem as soon as possible before it got any further I bluntly asked her what her problem was.

"Problem. What problem? Why should I have a problem? I'm only just stuck on fricken boat in the middle of some god forsaken ocean, wondering if I'm going to drown before tomorrow because of some stupid storm we shouldn't even be close to!"

When she finished her rant I could see the beginning of tears building up into the corners of her eyes as her face got flushed and her breath began to get ragged. I realized then, that my sister was scared. I mentally smacked myself alongside the head for not having realized that my younger sister, who I had to remember was four years younger than me, might actually be more scared than I was at the prospect that we might not actually get through this storm safely. After this revelation passed through my thick head I crouched down to match my sisters height and enveloped her smaller frame in my long arms in a comforting hug. Stiffening initially at my action, she slowly started to relax and return a hug of her own, quietly sobbing and letting a few tears soak into my shoulder. I hummed quietly rocking her back and forth slightly as I tried to whisper comforting reassurances into her ear. Slowly, after a few minutes of this, Sid calmed down somewhat and started to sniff and try and wipe off the remaining tear streaks on her face with the back of her hands. When I finally thought she was okay to let go of I released our hug and took a step back with be arm resting on her shoulders reassuringly.

"You good now" I said with a faint understanding smile that I hope would comfort her.

She looked up at me with slightly puffy red eyes before replying back with a watery smile.

"I'm good now. Thanks Kyle. I'm just so scared that I might actually die tonight or that I would maybe lose you or dad or mum. I just wished we had never gone on this stupid trip. We'd be back at home safe and sound without having to worry about if one of us will die out here."

I chuckled quietly to myself as I gave her a reassuring squeeze of her shoulders.

"Sid, life is dangerous. You can't hide away forever at home hoping that you never have come face to face with danger. Some of the most exciting and memorable things in life are as such because they are so dangerous, and if you ever want the opportunity to experience those moments sometimes you have to take a chance, even if your betting your wellbeing on it." I paused briefly taking quick breath as I tried to organize my thoughts before I continued.

"Take mountain climbers for example." My sister tilted her head slightly to the side as if to question me as to where I was going with this statement.

"Dozens of people risk their lives every year trying to climb Mount Everest. Before making the climb they know well and fully that they might not ever come back down from that mountain again. But that is the reason why they will forever, for the rest of their lives, remember that first view they are rewarded with when they finally reach the top of that mountain. That is why people take the risks that they do so often. We only get one life, one chance to experience all in which this world has to offer us. In order for us to see the wonder in which this world has to give we sometimes have to take a little risk with the one thing we only have one of, our lives. That is why when we sail and travel to new places or see new things it is so rewarding and memorable."

When I finally finished my point, slightly out of breath from having to talk so long as I did, I closed my eyes momentarily and remain silent, hoping my little speech would help Sid understand the point I was trying to convey to her. When I opened my eyes again, I saw that my sister's entire demeanor had done a complete 180. Before, she was sniffing and shaking slightly in nervousness and fear, but now as I looked into her face all I saw was determination to get through whatever came at us in the near future. Sid smiled at me in quiet gratefulness for my words as I finally released her shoulders, returning a proud smile of my own knowing that she would be okay. Giving me a quick goodbye as she politely excused herself after telling me she was going to go check and see if Mum was okay she turned without saying another word as she walked away, descending down into the hold before briefly turning her head back and mouthing one more silent thanks. After waiting for the last of my sisters brown hair to disappear below deck I went back to work and did one more final sweep of the Tempest before deciding to join my father up in the wheelhouse.

As I entered the wood and aluminum clad enclosure the radio was silent as I saw that my father was finished with whatever plans he and the other captains in the convoy had come up with. I could see that his face was full with worry even though he tried and failed to hide it from me, as his gaze went between where our intended safe harbour was supposed to lie and the raging storm that stalked us. His head eventually after a few more scans of the horizon turned towards me as I stood silently next to him watching sombrely as the storm got ever closer to us in the distance.

"Did I ever tell you, Kyle, why your mother and I named you the way we did?" I blinked at him owlishly a few times not knowing how to reply to this unexpected line of talk. After a moment's pause I shook my head in the negative, telling him I had not.

My father chuckled to himself briefly as if remembering some kind of inside joke as he turned his head and attention back towards the prow of the Tempest.

"Well you see, at the time when me and your mother were waiting for you to be born your mother and I youst to watch an old television sitcom called Duckman". I gave my father a weird look as I tried to rationalize why the hell anyone in their right mind would ever name a T.V. show after such a weird name, but before I could think more on the subject my father continued.

"During one of the episodes we watched, the show introduced a new character by the name of Vile Kyle, who was one of the of the world's most famous and daring daredevils." I was now staring incredulously at my father as he told me that he and my mum had named me after some fictional character from a 90's adult sitcom. My father turned his eyes back to me in response to my continued silence as I continued to stare at him in open mouthed incredulity. Realizing that he'd better get a move on with the story before I recovered my wits my father hastily continued his tale as his eye's again returned to the prow.

"You see, Kyle, your mother and I named you after him in hopes that we could raise you so that you could live your life to the fullest without fears of holding anything back, just like that dare devil on the show." My father finally finished his tale and waited anxiously to hear my thoughts on this story as he continued to sail the Tempest. My earlier disappointment of my naming origin slowly faded as I continued to ponder my father's final explanation of why I was named how I was. After waiting a full minute and thinking this revelation over in my head in silence I finally decided that I was, while not overjoyed at hearing how I was named, I was at least satisfied with why I was named as such with my future best interest in both my parents' hearts.

After coming to this conclusion in my thoughts I waited another full minute in silence, letting my father sweat a few more bullets in fear that his story didn't really have the desired effect he was hoping for in his son. Finally deciding to stop teasing my father with my silent staring I let him relax by giving him an approving nod and grin as I decided to finally respond to his story.

"Thanks for telling me this story, Dad, I can't say in a million years that it was something I was expecting to hear, but I'm happy that I was named in hopes that I would get a chance to live a full and exciting life." My father gave a quick sigh of relief in response to my answer before turning his face towards me again, adorning a large grin which reflection my own.

"I'm glad to hear it son. I'll tell you though, I don't think I'll be telling you another story like that for a while. If you keep putting your old man on the spot like that I don't know how long my heart can take it." We both laughed at his statement and slowly settled down as we both returned our attention to the rest of the convoy around us. Standing next to each other in comfortable silence as we continued following the convoy my curiosity got the better of me as a thought came across my mind.

"So, Dad, you never did say what happened to Vile Kyle during the show. What happened to him?" As soon as I finished asking my question my father seemed to freeze suddenly before he slowly rubbed the back of his neck with his hand as he let out a nervous laugh. I started to have a dreadful feeling I was going to regret asking this question, but before I could say anything more my dad started to reply, avoiding looking at me in the eye as he continued to rub is neck nervously.

"Weeeell, apparently, if you can believe it, soon after the start of the episode Vile Kyle dies at an amusement park after being pushed into a cotton candy machine by a group of hungry nuns." As soon is my mind finally comprehended the words that left my father mouth I face faulted and started banging my head against the nearest post as I started mumbling under my breath about good for nothing parents as my father watched me carry on with mild amusement. After accepting to myself that my ego would never recover after a blow like this I stopped my antics and returned beside my father's side as we returned to the somber atmosphere that accompanied the approaching storm. My father tore his gaze away from the impending storm one final time as he looked at me seriously.

"You ready?" he asked not needing to elaborate his question as we both knew what he was talking about.

"Always." I stated, before turning away from him and heading out of the wheelhouse, intending on seeing how my mother and sister were holding up. I gave one last glance at the storm that would soon hit us as I made my way below deck, giving quick prayer to whatever deity that existed out there to keep both me and my family safe before finally ducking my head below deck to check on my mother and sister.

* * *

If someone asked me beforehand if I ever got sea sick, I would have probably laughed them out of whatever room we were in. Now, after the storm, I don't think I could even think of anything related rocking before I would turn green at the thought. To say that we went through hell in that storm would be the understatement of the century. During the storm we somehow managed to get separated from the rest of the convey as my father tried his best preventing the Tempest from capsizing as the waves generated by the storm slammed into us relentlessly. While my father gave his best efforts to keep as alive and afloat Sid, mum and I focused ourselves in trying to bail out as much water as possible from below deck as fate had decided it was the best time to have our bilge pump fail us then. By the time we had gotten through the storm safely the Tempests engine was completely and thoroughly flooded with water. Not only did fate decide to throw a wrench into our engine in an almost literal sense but unfortunately for us the door to the wheel house was busted open during the storm, causing most of our radio and other electronic equipment to short out due to the salt water that got in. With no engine, no radio and not even a breeze of wind to fill out sails we were, and I never thought I would hear myself say this, stranded adrift at sea.

While my father sat in the wheelhouse of the boat, taking apart and trying to fix the damage the saltwater had caused our transistor radio, I was stuck spending my time wandering the deck on lookout to keep an eye out just in case our convoy had decided to search for us. As I walked along the polished wood flooring of the portside of the ship, I stopped and leaned against the ships rails as I cast my eyes along the sea's horizon. As I remained leaning against the aluminum rails my eyes searching for anything of interest among the shallow waves that surrounded us, my thoughts drifted to thinking about whether or not the convoy had noticed our absence and were searching for us. Momentarily my thoughts turned dark as I pessimistically thought that most likely the convoy just decided to forget about and abandoned us. Leaving us stranded out here until we either starved or more likely in our case die of thirst. I shuddered mentally at the thought, definitely praying that if I were to die soon it would not be a slow and agonizing death by dehydration. After finishing that last thought, I decided to banish any remaining darks thoughts that were plaguing my mind, deciding to have faith in my father's ability to get our radio up and going again.

As my mind began to drift again as I played around with some future ideas of what to do to keep me entertained my eyes suddenly caught the sight of a distant blur along the horizon. At first I passed it off as possible a mirage or illusion cause by the suns mid-afternoon light hitting the water, but as I stared longer at the blurred spot I noticed that it was in fact not my imagination and was actually getting closer to us. When I finally concluded that my sight was in fact not misleading me I pushed off the rails with my fist pumping the air as I whooped in joy thinking that help was on the way. My father noticed my excitement from up in the wheel house and put down whatever he was doing to see what I was making a fuss about. Seeing my father make his way down from the wheelhouse and walking towards my direction I turned my head and yelled out to him.

"Hey, Dad! I think someone's finally found us. Do you think it's someone from the convoy?"

As I said this I tried to point out to him with my arm what I was seeing. Turning his attention to where I had pointed my father squinted his eyes trying to spot what my younger stronger eyes had seen off in the distance. After a few moments of him fruitlessly trying to discover what I was pointing at he jogged back to the wheel house and grabbed the marine binoculars that we stored up there. By the time he had made it back to where I was at the prow with binoculars in hand, both my mother and sis had decided climb up on deck to see what all the noise I was making was all about. I stared at my father's face as he brought the binoculars up to his eyes and started searching again to see what I had pointed out to a minute beforehand. As I continued waiting for my father's response I notice his body suddenly freeze dead still as he finally spotted what I had tried showing him. Face starting to turn deathly pale, I watched as my father's face started to fill with more and more dread the longer he watched whatever I had seen. Noticing my father's silence my mother called out to my father.

"Honey what's wrong, what did Kyle see".

My father gulped before slowly turning to face my mother, his face written with nothing but absolute fear. My father spoke only one trembling word so quietly it was barely above a whisper as he looked at my mother and sister.

"Pirates."

It took me a moment for his word to finally sink in, but when they did my 15 year old mind could only think of one thing to say.

"Fuck!"


End file.
